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Pionair Australia eyes more E190s as regional market grows

Pionair Australia (PH, Bankstown) is planning to add a further three E190s in 2021 as it sees the aircraft as well-positioned for scheduled ACMI deals in Australia, its director (business development) has said.

"COVID has been a driving force, and purchase prices have come way down on the E190s. We still like our BAe 146s, but the expansion into E190s was a logical step into a different class of aircraft," Randal McFarlane told Smart Aviation APAC.

The Australian airline added its first Embraer aircraft for in-house operations in the second half of November 2020. Ex-Helvetic Airways ERJ 190-100LR HB-JVR (msn 19000435) was ferried from Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg, CH via Belgrade, Dubai World Central, Chennai, Medan Kuala Namu, and Broome to Bankstown over the course of November 21-24, AirNav RadarBox ADS-B data shows. The 9.6-year-old regional jet will be re-registered as VH-SEF and, following maintenance, will be deployed on charter services.

In the future, Pionair sees an opportunity to deploy the other three E190s on...

Pionair Australia to add first E190

Pionair Australia (PH, Bankstown) has acquired its first ERJ 190-100LR in the form of VH-SEF (msn 19000435), a 9.5-year-old regional jet previously owned by GOAL and dry-leased by Helvetic Airways (2L, Zurich).

The aircraft will be delivered to Australia in mid-November. It was retired by the Swiss regional specialist on March 21, 2020, and subsequently stored first at Zurich, then at Bratislava, and since at July 31, at Basel/Mulhouse/Freiburg, CH airport, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows.

Pionair already operates one Embraer aircraft - an ERJ 190-300 - on behalf of Air Kiribati (IK, Tarawa). Although it was delivered in March 2020, it has yet to be deployed into revenue service due to prevailing border restrictions affecting traffic to and from Kiribati. The aircraft, which has been operating test flights within Australia and to its future base at Tarawa airport, is currently parked at Toowoomba Wellcamp airport.

Although the Australian airline did not respond to ch-aviation's request for comment regarding its E190 plans,...